There is nothing more important for a contact center or any business than providing good quality service. Excellent customer service can help attract positive feedback and improve a company’s revenue. On the other hand, poor customer service can frustrate consumers, which may lead to poor word-of-mouth advertising and damage one’s reputation.
USE THE CHECKLIST BELOW TO EVALUATE YOUR BUSINESS PERFORMANCE:
- CUSTOMER COMMUNICATION
- Do you answer customer calls in a courteous and friendly manner?
- Do you always use appropriate greetings?
- Do you interact well with customers?
- Do you have good listening skills?
- Do you quickly respond to customer e-mails, telephone queries and complaints?
Your employees should greet customers in a friendly and professional manner at all times. Telephone hold times should be minimal and customer service email responses should be promptly addressed. A customer should never be ignored, rushed, delayed or disrespected.
PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE
- Do you know your products and services well?
- Can you confidently explain the company’s products and services?
- Will you be able to explain the basic components of each product, features and benefits?
- Do you understand how to match specific products and services with particular customer needs?
Your customer service employees should be well-versed on your company’s products. They should have in-depth knowledge of your company’s individual products or services, a good working knowledge of the company’s goals and objectives, and the ability to successfully respond to frequently asked questions.
PROBLEM-SOLVING
- Can you help customers solve their problems?
- Will you go an extra mile to help a customer?
Customers need your service representatives to help them resolve problems. Your employees should be able to help customers with their troubles. They should be able to apply best practices effectively and offer different problem-solving options to customers to ensure they are pleased with the outcome of their interaction with your business.
RESOLVING CONFLICT
- Are you cool and calm during conflict situation?
- Can you act to diffuse or alleviate the situation?
- Do you resolve customer service issues in a fair and equitable manner?
- Do you stay polite at all times?
Almost all employees face the wrath of an unhappy customer. How your employees deal with a conflicting situation can determine between repeat business, future referrals or a bad business reputation.
Your employees should know how to properly deal with unruly or unhappy customers. Be sure employees are acting within the chain of command in conflict situations and understand who you can authorize actions or changes.
Having a great customer service division in a company means good business for the company. Develop your own plan to improve and use this checklist to monitor your own client care-improvement.
Infinit Contact’s content team consists of customer service, contact center, and industry professionals and experts who regularly contribute blog posts related to the contact center and outsourcing industry.